■ NEW ZEALAND
Yachtmen rescued at sea
Ten Frenchmen from a racing yacht that capsized yesterday were winched to safety by helicopter and flown to dry land, rescue officials said. Three rescue helicopters winched the crew of the Groupama III to safety in mid-afternoon and flew them to Taieri Airfield near the southern city of Dunedin, Rescue Coordination Center spokesman Ross Henderson said. The sailors were uninjured and all 10 were in survival gear and sitting on the upturned hull of the catamaran when they were picked up about 145km off the coast, he said.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Silent song tops charts
It's a doggone chartbuster -- a song audible only to dogs has topped New Zealand record charts and is looking to go global. A Very Silent Night recorded at a frequency only dogs can hear, was so popular among owners it hit number one at Christmas, but has been receiving mixed responses from listeners. "The most violent one was a dog that physically attacked the radio when it was played and went quite berserk and totally destroyed it," said Bob Kerridge, chief executive of animal welfare group, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "On the other side of the scale, they just lie down and did nothing."
■ AUSTRALIA
Antarctic waters warming
The longest continuous record of temperature changes in the Southern Ocean has found that Antarctic waters are warming and sea levels are rising, an Australian scientist said yesterday. The data from a joint Australian, French and US program has been collected over 15 years by the French supply ship Astrolabe during its regular voyages to the Antarctic base Dumont D'Urville. Steve Rintoul, who leads the Australian side of the program, said the data had given scientists a foundation for studying the remote and inhospitable Antarctic waters and how changes there could impact on the global climate.
■ FIJI
British lawyer deported
A British lawyer representing the International Bar Association has been arrested and deported on her arrival on the orders of the post-coup interim government, officials said on Sunday. Felicia Johnston was detained by immigration officials when her flight arrived on Saturday morning and put on a Brisbane-bound flight seven hours later. She was part of a panel of jurists scheduled to visit the troubled nation to examine the state of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. However, her deportation has prompted the international law body to suspend the study visit which was scheduled to start yesterday.
■ JAPAN
Drunken Marine enters home
Tokyo voiced anger yesterday after a drunken US Marine was found passed out in a local home on the southern island of Okinawa, where just a week ago another US soldier was arrested on rape allegations. "I only have one thing to express and that is our true anger," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the top government spokesman. Corporal Shawn Cody Jake, 21, was found at 4:25am yesterday morning on a sofa inside the house of a local family in Nago City who did not know the man, according to the Okinawa police. "He was arrested at the scene for trespassing," a police spokesman said.
■ GUYANA
Gunmen hit police station
Unidentified gunmen late on Sunday killed 12 people during an assault on a police station at a gold-mining township in the southwest, in the second massacre to have occurred in less than one month, authorities said. Regional Chairman Hilbert Knights said three police and nine civilians were killed and several others injured. He said that at least six men had arrived via the Essequibo River in a speedboat and invaded the Bartica police station. Divisional Police Commander Gavin Primo said the gunmen, who were dressed in military fatigues, took weapons stored at the station. A team of soldiers and police were deployed to the area to track down the gunmen, TV reports said.
■ FRANCE
Police nab suspected rioters
More than 1,000 police raided housing projects outside Paris in an early morning sweep yesterday, detaining at least 20 people in a bid to find rioters who led an outburst of violence last year, police said. Police were mobilized for raids in Villiers-le-Bel and in the neighboring towns of Sarcelles, Gonesse and Arnouville as part of the investigation into the November riots, a police official said. Violence erupted in late November in Villiers-le-Bel after two teenagers were killed in a crash with a police car. Police said it was an accident, but many residents were unconvinced.
■ SPAIN
Cuban dissidents take exile
Four dissidents released after spending years in a Cuban prison for their political beliefs flew into exile in Spain on Sunday. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, Omar Pernet Hernandez, Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo and Alejandro Gonzalez Raga landed in Madrid with 13 relatives and friends. Alvarez said Cuban authorities gave him a choice -- exile or jail. "It was a very difficult decision, to leave so many brothers and colleagues behind was a heartrending experience," Alvarez said. The Cubans were among 75 dissidents arrested in a crackdown in 2003. They were tried and convicted of being US mercenaries whose aim was to undermine Fidel Castro's government.
■ ITALY
Body identified as tourist
A body found on Sunday in Venice's lagoon is that of a British man missing since Valentine's Day, reports said. Richard John Raynor, a 23-year-old from Doncaster, England who had been on a vacation with his girlfriend, was found under a bridge connecting the lagoon city to the mainland, media said. Raynor went missing early on Thursday as he and his girlfriend were making their way back to their hotel after a night out, a police statement said. Raynor disappeared in a Venice square while his girlfriend was looking for a taxi. She tried calling his cell phone but found it switched off and contacted police after Raynor didn't turn up at their hotel, the statement said.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Plan for metal detectors
Police are to be given money to erect hundreds of metal-detecting "knife arches" and search wands to help tackle violent crime, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said on Sunday. She told BBC television the move was part of a strategic plan to tackle violence. Police across the country have already been using the metal detectors in trials at the entrance to pubs and clubs, with some forces also planning to use them at schools. Public concern remains high over levels of knife crime, particularly among inner-city youths.
■ UNITED NATIONS
UN staffer jumps to death
A woman who worked for the UN died on Sunday after falling from the 19th floor of the UN Secretariat Building, authorities said. Police and UN security officers at the scene, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the woman was in her 40s and had jumped from a window after showing up to work early in the morning. "At this time there is no suspicion of foul play," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. UN officials would not confirm her identity even after her next of kin were notified, Okabe said.
■ UNITED STATES
Kitty lost in subway found
A skittish kitten that scampered out of its carrier on a subway platform has been found after 25 days in the underground tunnels. Transit workers tracked down six-month-old Georgia under midtown Manhattan on Saturday. Police reunited her with owner Ashley Phillips, a 24-year-old Bronx librarian. After hearing that the black cat might have been spotted below Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street, track workers Mark Dalessio and Efrain LaPorte went through the area making "meow" sounds. Georgia responded, and they found her cowering in a drain between two tracks.
■ UNITED STATES
Suspect to be tested
A man accused of hacking a Manhattan therapist to death rambled and appeared agitated during his arraignment on Sunday before the judge ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. David Tarloff, 39, was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault. Acting Supreme Court Justice Ruth Pickholz ordered that Tarloff have a psychiatric evaluation before being brought back to court on Saturday. Tarloff was arrested on Saturday after investigators matched his palm prints with those at the bloody scene where therapist Kathryn Faughey was killed last Tuesday evening.
■ BRAZIL
Silva visits Antarctica
Brazil intends to increase its operations in Antarctica, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Sunday after visiting the region with his wife, son and several government officials. "We are going to have to expand our presence here with more investments and laboratory ships," Silva told reporters covering his trip, which was postponed 24 hours by bad weather. "We will also have to improve the base and bring in more researchers." Silva visited Brazil's Commandante Ferraz Antarctic base, which is marking its 25th year. Brazilian scientists conduct meteorological, biological and oceanographic studies, as well as research involving nuclear geophysics and geomagnetism.
■ UNITED STATES
Games a big hit at libraries
Video game events at public libraries are drawing crowds of teens, including about 100 competing monthly at Guitar Hero at the Rochester Hills Public Library, near Detroit, Michigan. "Getting teens to come to the library is right up there with getting them to go to church: It's not exactly the first place they want to go," Christine Lind Hage, library director, told the Detroit Free Press on Sunday. Hage stocked the shelves with 1,823 games. And the games are hot items, with an average of 1,300 checked out daily. A contest in Rochester Hills was held on Feb. 9, and similar events are being held at other libraries. "It's a big social event," said Stephanie Jaczkowski, 17. ""I've met a lot of friends there and they're really good friends.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese